Thousands in Hong Kong Support Wounded Editor

HONG KONG — Thousands of Hong Kong residents marched peacefully on Sunday to voice their support for press freedom and to denounce violence after a near-deadly assault on a former newspaper editor who has become a symbol of the pressures squeezing the local news media.

The protesters, led by journalists and joined by students, political activists and even taxi drivers, heard speakers calling for respect for the rule of law and for a strong government effort to find whoever was responsible for the assault on Kevin Lau Chun-to, the former chief editor of the newspaper Ming Pao. Mr. Lau is in a hospital after an attacker ambushed him on a street on Wednesday and slashed him with a cleaver — leaving one deep gash across his back and two across his legs — before fleeing on a motorbike driven by an accomplice.

Protesters, most dressed in black, gathered first at a park next to Victoria Harbour at midday, unfurling a large banner on the lawn that read “They Can’t Kill Us All” in English. Many, if not most, of the demonstrators in the park were young people, with little or no memories of Hong Kong before it returned to Chinese rule in 1997 after a century and a half as a British colony. Some participants spoke Mandarin, not the Cantonese mainly spoken in Hong Kong, suggesting that they were from mainland China.

Such was the case with Huang Lanlan, 23, a journalism student at Hong Kong Baptist University from Hunan Province, in south-central China.

“It’s not difficult for the public to imagine this is connected to press freedom because so many journalists have been attacked in Hong Kong,” said Ms. Huang, who wants to return to the mainland and become an investigative reporter. “I want to do something to make society better.”

Hong Kong residents have civil liberties — freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion — not enjoyed by their compatriots a short train ride away in mainland China.

Many participants carried signs in Chinese and English with the words “Freedom From Fear,” words Mr. Lau used in a message to the demonstrators made from his hospital bed.

“Violence is meant to intimidate. If we are frightened into submission, we lose our freedom,” Mr. Lau, 49, said in a recorded message broadcast to the demonstrators. “Freedom is not free. We all have to earn and guard it.”

The demonstrators then joined a crowd already gathered in front of the Hong Kong government’s headquarters. In a striking contrast to protests across the border in mainland China, where the police turn up in force, few police officers were on hand to control the peaceful and well-ordered crowd. Several public minibuses and taxis were parked on the road in front of the government building, bearing signs in Chinese supporting press freedom and denouncing violence.

One participant, Timothy Leung, a social worker in his 50s with long, flowing gray hair, described Mr. Lau in almost Christlike terms.

“His suffering is not just his own suffering; his suffering is for the whole of Hong Kong, even for the whole of China,” Mr. Leung said.

The attack on Mr. Lau has been a flashpoint for those who fear the future of the Hong Kong news media. Many journalists here say the political and commercial sway of mainland China threatens to overwhelm legal protections and subdue the traditionally combative local press. Although the police have not named the suspects or a motive, newspaper editorials and journalists have described the attack on Mr. Lau as a symptom of the vulnerability of press freedom in this territory administered by China.

“We all feel that this violence is related to his job as a journalist, so it will certainly result in creating intimidation and fear among journalists,” said Albert Ho Chun-yan, a prominent lawyer and member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. “Inevitably the freedom of the press, the freedom of exchange of information, the freedom of expression are jeopardized as a result of the attack.”

The protest also gave a foretaste of what could be larger demonstrations against the Chinese government.

Every year, thousands gather on June 4 to commemorate the armed crackdown on student-led protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989. This year, the 25th anniversary, turnout is likely to be especially large.

Even before the attack, Mr. Lau was in the news and the subject of supportive protests after Ming Pao’s owners demoted him from his job as chief editor. Many staff members and their supporters said the move appeared to be an attempt to fetter the newspaper’s traditional independence. The newspaper’s management has issued statements denying that Mr. Lau’s removal reflected any shift in editorial policy.

Hong Kong has a colorful and competitive news media. Newsstands sell publications ranging from salacious, gossip-filled magazines to sober-toned broadsheets, like Ming Pao. Ming Pao has pursued investigations into financial infractions by city officials and the offshore bank accounts of the Chinese elite.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Thousands in Hong Kong Support Wounded Editor. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe